"My guess is that they don't come from families that were average and they were both probably tremendously traumatized themselves," he said.

Now, their children face the outside world for the first time, as well as a lengthy recovery process.

"What would you hope for for these kids? To survive post-traumatic stress disorder, to survive repetitive episodes of depression." Dr. Ablow said. "It could be a lifetime from battling back from this."

Child protective services are now working with each child and authorities say the parents show no sign of mental illness that would explain their behavior inside the home.